


El Deschidado

by Lilliburlero



Category: 14th Century CE RPF, Richard II - Shakespeare
Genre: Bolingbroke, Canonical Character Death, Ficlet, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-25
Updated: 2014-03-25
Packaged: 2018-01-17 00:48:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1367776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilliburlero/pseuds/Lilliburlero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bolingbroke's victory is distinctly qualified and very partial.</p>
            </blockquote>





	El Deschidado

**Author's Note:**

> Written to the prompt: "Richard II, Bolingbroke, tower," for strangeparticles on Tumblr.

_Je suis le Ténébreux--le Veuf--l’Inconsolé_

During his exile, Henry plays cards, a new, fashionable pastime. He’s courting allies. And widows. He misses Mary, but he’s not going to make an unseemly fuss about it, tearing down towers and wasting the substance he hasn’t got because it was stolen from him.

_Le Prince d’Aquitaine à la Tour abolie_

Conwy. Flint. Pontefract. Henry wishes he could tear them down.

_Ma seule Etoile est morte – et mon luth constellé_

Henry plays the love-songs he wrote for Mary, the lullaby he made for Harry. He orders a Mass sung, his own composition. None of it does any good.

_Porte le Soleil noir de la Mélancolie._

It has been a bright, clear day, unusual for mid-February. Soon the monks will ring Vespers. The sun is lowering over the trees' black ribs. Henry unwisely looks straight at it: he’s always been drawn to golden beauty. He’s blinded for a moment, panics, then he starts to see again, as if through a torn veil.

**Author's Note:**

> T.S. Eliot associated Gérard de Nerval's poem ['El Deschidado'](http://www.tierslivre.net/litt/nervaldeschidado.html) with the Tarot, especially the Tower card, and so do I.
> 
> Literal translation of the relevant lines:
> 
> I am the dark one, the widower, the inconsolable,  
> The prince of Aquitaine in the ruined tower,  
> My only star is dead, and my constellated lute  
> Bears the Black Sun of melancholy.


End file.
